Re: Port Troubles (D-rank mission, private)

[Kasimir Sewik]

“Jumping insane heights seems pretty cool too,” Kaz pointed out. He hadn't seen exactly where Amie had jumped from, but he'd seen the landing. Considering that their sniper foe had stopped firing, Kaz was fairly certain Amie must've used the same technique to corner the opponent. Really, Kaz's magical abilities were far from impressive. They served their purpose, but compared to many other wizards in the world, Kaz was sub-par at best.

With bandana in hand, Kaz get a closer look at Amie's wound, while being lectured. He shrugged apathetically, placing his sword back on his back. “Speaking from personal experience, right?” Kaz pointed out. “I'm not the one with a bullet in my shoulder.” In the end, Amie had been in as much danger as Kaz was. All considered, Kaz was fairly certain he'd done a good job in their last fight, managing to take out opponents without sustaining even more damage. Amie's constant worrying was becoming slightly more than just friendly concern.

“I know you kind of rescued me earlier, but I'm stronger than you think. I don't mind taking a few hits, and it's going to take a lot for me to go down,” he defended. The look Amie gave him, that more serious stare whenever asking or saying something about Kaz's well-being... It was beginning to get on his nerves. Kaz maybe liked a little pity thrown his way, but at the same time, he wasn't a wounded animal, and couldn't bare to be treated as such.

He sighed, ruffling his hair slightly. True to Amie's words, there was a bullet burried in the shoulder. Kaz lacked both the tools and technical know-how on how to remove it, without causing even more bleeding. Besides, they likely didn't have that much leeway room to rest. “I'm just going to wrap it  up to try and stem some of the bleeding, but you'll need to get it treated more properly when we get back,” he said. The bandage would be makeshift at best, but hopefully it would last until they finished their business here.

Kaz had just finished tying it when their temporary respite was interrupted. Strange cracking sounds resonated around them. Overgrown vines snaked into their temporary shelter. Kaz whipped around, quickly unsheathing his sword again. Laughter echoed around Kaz and Amie, but Kaz couldn't pinpoint where exactly.

“You little snots,” an unknown voice sneered. “If you think you can just waltz into my territory and beat up my men, then get away scot-free, you're dead wrong.”

Kaz watched the vines grow closer, at the same time scanning for the location of their hidden enemy. It sounded almost like it was coming near them somewhere. A few feet away, he could see a clump of vines bonded together. The smaller vines invading seemed to originate from that single spot. Perhaps that was where their mystery opponent was hiding? He hadn't even seen it earlier – it must have grown quickly during their little break.

“I'll try and clear a path for you to get a good shot,” Kaz rose his sword. Magical plants or not, they were still plants, and wouldn't stand against his sword. If Amie could follow up immediately with an attack, their opponent would likely be hard pressed. Kaz really hoped this was the last guy; this constant fighting was starting to get to his stamina.

[Ambrose Wilder]

“I’m just a fighter, its all I do…. Well, not all I do, but its what I’m good at,” he shrugged, then closed his eyes because shrugging apparently hurt. That was unfortunate, but he couldn’t have helped it. Amie didn’t feel like he was lecturing. He’d found someone who was injured, and he was trying to look out for him. It wasn’t his fault that this man was incurring himself more harm or disliked Amie’s concern. Kaz shrugged at Kade’s comment and asked something about personal experience, “Not really…. Well…. Not for a long time,” he said, thinking about how he’d been a decoy as a child. That hadn’t been… as dangerous… right? No one was shooting at him. He shook his head, not wanting to think about it, he’d done enough of that already.

“Fine,” Amie said, sensing the irritation from Kaz, “if you’re strong, you can fight. I just don’t like decoys. You or anyone else, ah nevermind,” he said, waving his hand. The not injured arm. He didn’t really want to get into it, it didn’t seem like Kaz liked or understood what Amie intended, so there was no use arguing with him. They had other things to worry about, like that bullet. He used his other arm to pull the collar of his shirt over enough to show the wound. It required unbotton it enough, as that shirt wasn’t going to give any. He had enough scars he was happier with the shirt on, but it didn’t matter, at least his chest wasn’t covered in purple bruises.

He let Kaz bandage the wound up. “Thanks, mate,” he said as he cheered up some more. Of course while he was starting to button his shirt up some more, struggling to do it mostly with one hand, he heard noises. “Aw c’mon, it isn’t even that much money,” he joked. Plants were growing toward them, and as much as Amie liked his hands, they weren’t much for cutting down plants. The threat just made him chuckle, “That’s not even a good line,” he said mostly to himself. He probably did have too much fun.

Kaz offered to cut a path, or clear it, Amie assumed cut, and Amie nodded. He didn’t feel like he could punch this man with his full power yet, but he could definitely cut down his magic. He was prepared to follow up Kaz’s attack with his own. This was his style, a burst of everything, not this drawn out combat that caused him to plan things out. Where was the fun in that?

[135/200 MP]

[Kasimir Sewik]

Kaz did agree with Amie on one point - this was starting to get pretty tiring, maybe even a bit ridiculous. This guy better be the last guy... for real. Kaz waited for Amie's confirmation this time, at least trying to be less of a decoy and more of a partner. But he didn't wait any longer past that. The vines were quickly closing in on their position, and eliminating places they might escape to.

Kaz sprinted towards the collection of vines. The plants rose up against him, but his two-handed sword made short work of them. The writhing vines ceased moving once cut in half, but more rose quickly to take its place. Kaz wasn't quite fast enough to chop much faster than its regeneration rate. He pressed on regardless, hoping that he was at least giving enough time for Amie to get through as well.

Unfortunately, despite his little speech earlier, Kaz was actually panting pretty heavily. All this fighting was getting to him, and he hadn't been in the best of condition before he met Amie. Just swinging the Claymore so many times and so quickly was quickly consuming what stamina he had left. But he couldn't go down yet... Just a few steps closer and they'd be there!

One of his tired swings failed to completely cleave one of the vines. Not realizing his mistake, he continued forward, only to have it wrap tightly around his ankle. It yanked him back harshly. Completely losing his balance, Kaz fell gracelessly to the ground. The vines quickly wrapped over his hand first, trapping his sword hand. He sat up halfway , snapping some of the vines covering him, but his hand was wrapped to thickly to extract his sword. "Don't worry about me - go!" He urged Amie, hoping the other was close enough to land a substantial blow.

[Ambrose Wilder]

Kaz was being a bit more agreeable, working with Amie instead of charging off without time to plan. They didn’t really have a lot of time to plan, but that couldn’t be helped. Amie was used to working on his own, sparing, or just making sure he survived. Now he had a partner, at least for the moment. Amie ran behind Kaz, who was cutting through the vines like a professional, until he wore out. Kaz got tangled and went down. Amie’s first impulse was to help him. It was survival, and everyone needed to survive. But no, he knew what he needed to do. He needed to take this guy out and then it wouldn’t be a problem to go get Kaz.

Kaz even reaffirmed this by telling Amie to keep going. Well that could be handled pretty well. He was close enough that he could finally see the guy after a few more steps. Thick in vines was all well and good, but Amie could reach him. He was a bit surprised to see someone so close, but he was even more surprised when Amie knocked his foot against the ground and propelled himself toward the man with a sudden Long Jump. When he crashed into the magic user, too quickly to be blocked by the vine magic, the color drained from his left hand, which made direct contact with the man’s chest, just before he swung up with his right arm, which lit on fire for a moment. As the two of them went down Amie connected with a right hook, sending the currently paralyzed man flying backwards while singed.

Amie landed on all fours, not propelled as far as the enemy, and then picked himself up and ran over to him. Everything combined had knocked the man out, and Amie, who had in the moment forgotten about the bullet in his arm, grabbed his shoulder. It had definitely gotten the blood going, and it hurt far worse now, but he tried to calm himself as he checked on the man. He would be paralyzed, and his magic had already been cut off, and now that he was unconscious Amie knew he should go check on Kaz.

Amie walked over still holding his shoulder, before crouching down to help untangle Kaz from the vines, which were no longer offering resistance. He laughed a little, “Well that was fun… you’re handy with a sword. I am pretty sure they’re all done… ” he said, letting the last of his spells fade off, which did nothing for the exertion, “Want to come tell the guy?” He hoped the answer was yes, Kaz had done a lot to help, and Amie liked the company.

[85/200 MP]

[Kasimir Sewik]

Even tangled in vines as he was, Kaz couldn't help but watch when Amie jumped a near-impossible distance, to slam a flaming fist into the center of their enemy. It was quite the sight, to say the least. And Kaz had seen his fair share of fighting. The plants around Kaz slackened at their opponent's defeat. Kaz snapped the remaining vines with Amie's help, shaking off some of the shrubbery and freeing both sword and hand.

Fun huh... If being nearly killed every few seconds was Amie's idea of fun, sure, that worked. They were both quite the pair now, each having injuries of their own. Although at least Kaz had avoided re-opening any more wounds or banging up his chest more. He supposed he couldn't complain really, compared to what would have happened without Amie. He grinned a little in relief; at least both would live to see another day. "You're pretty strong yourself," he returned the compliment. Not every day he got to see someone jump insane heights with flaming fists.

"Sure, I'll come along. At the very least, until you've got your shoulder fixed up," Kaz grimaced a little upon getting a closer look at Amie's shoulder. Using flaming fists weren't easy on Amie's wound, apparently. Might as well see it all the way through... although Kaz was going to refuse any part of the reward if Amie tried to give it to him. Guild business was guild business, and he didn't really have any right to interfere. Especially since he'd volunteered himself to make up for his earlier debt - Amie could have easily turned Kaz in for quick cash earlier.

"And if you've got the stamina after turning in your mission and being patched up, you could come with me to the tavern," he sighed. He really needed another drink after all this... preferably with someone who wouldn't drug him. Apparently his past bad experience wasn't enough to ward him from returning to the bar, although he wouldn't be visiting that particular bar for quite some time. Mainly because he didn't want to find that girl again. Plus, alcohol was a great addition to friendly conversations, and Kaz had a lot of questions for his mysterious savior. Time to find out if that wink earlier had meant anything. At least Kaz could stave off another evening alone, even if it hadn't meant anything.

[Ambrose Wilder]

Amie wasn’t sure how much of his skill was magic, and how much was physical training. He didn’t really care. He liked to think he was a fighter, and he liked to think that his magic simply enhanced his own fighting, but they were mixed together no matter what. He returned and helped Kaz get up. The bleeding sucked, but Kaz didn’t think about it much. Mostly he was busy gripping his arm and hoping it would mostly stop bleeding. “I’m going to have to wash this shirt for days…” he mumbled, basically absentmindedly. A man who would have followed someone into a bloodbath for a good fight, but hared getting dirty, it was a difficult life.

“Thanks, it helps with that whole not dying thing. I’m pretty fond of not dying, lemme tell you,” he said, chuckling a little. It was a serious statement, but he didn’t often take himself seriously. It was just fun to not worry about how serious you needed to be. Kaz said he would stay at least until Amie’s shoulder was fixed up, “Oh, so all I have to do is be injured to keep you around?” he said with a friendly smirk that easily turned into a smile. It was hard to be less teasing and less positive, Kaz was fun, and Amie got injured for a lot less.

He laughed when Kaz commented on having enough stamina to go to a tavern. “And here I thought I needed an injury. Gimme a knife and some gauze and I’ll be fine. But I can do better, no worries. Yeah, tavern sounds like a fun time.”

With that they left the area. Amie would periodically wince and kept his hand almost constantly in his shirt, against his shoulder, but didn’t complain. He went back to the man he’d talked to earlier, and got a good sum of money. At least, a good sum of money for a random request. He did offer it to Kaz, but since Kaz turned him down, and Amie really liked money, he merely said, “Alright, but you have to let me pay at the tavern then, that’s the deal,” and left it at that.

[Kasimir Sewik]

Kaz helped Amie fix his shoulder a bit more to stop the bleeding again, they still had a bit of a walk ahead of them after all.. and it would hardly do to pass out now. He gave Amie a quizzical glance when he mentioned his shirt – was that Amie's worst concern right now? The bullet seemed like a far more pressing issue. “Oh, I'll never complain about having good company, injured or not,” Kaz smirked back. With the immediate danger out of the way, he was clearly feeling much more light-hearted. “I think it's more whether you want me around or not, than the other way around.”

They started to walk, but hadn't gotten very far when Kaz noticed Amie wincing. Without letting him protest, Kaz shouldered Amie's good side, giving him something to lean on. He wasn't about to let Amie struggle all the way back on his own. He only let go when they neared the client, figuring that Amie would probably have some amount of pride... especially since Kaz suspected him to be a guild wizard. As planned earlier, Kaz refused to take the money – but agreed on Amie's ultimatum. “Alright, fair enough,” he grinned. He supposed he'd at least earned another drink, and would let Amie pick up the tab on that one.

~exit~

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